Oilers getting fitter, not fatter

EDMONTON — In days gone by, Jordan Eberle would roll out for a game with the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats, net a goal or two or three, hop on the team bus, then scarf down a pizza.

Pizza is no longer a menu staple.

Eberle heeded the advice of a nutritionist this past off-season and reported to the Edmonton Oilers training camp with 3% body fat and more strength.

Defenceman Theo Peckham, meanwhile, spent the summer in Edmonton rather than Owen Sound, Ont., his usual off-season haunt, and worked out under the watchful eye of team fitness consultant Simon Bennett.

He, too, has seen a difference.

“My fitness test results were higher and my body fat was down,” said Peckham, who has dropped just below 12%. “I feel good.”

“When you’re training,” Eberle said, “you can hit a wall three months in. You just don’t want it to be the gym. I didn’t really have that this time, mostly I think, because my energy levels were great.”

It’s not that young players haven’t heard how much of a jump it is to go from major junior or even the American Hockey League to the NHL, but sometimes they just have to live it.

The other danger, said head coach Tom Renney, is that young players may get through their first year, then coast into the off-season.

“It’s amazing the naivety of young people in their first or second off-seasons,” said Renney. “What they don’t understand is that when the season is over, within the first couple of weeks, they have to be working again.

“For me, the aerobic fitness is your base and, oftentimes, young guys have a tendency to reward themselves for surviving that first year — never mind having some good numbers — so they do their thing for a month or so, and then they’ve lost real valuable time for setting their base.”

Renney said Peckham and Eberle were among the players who took the right tact and tested better. Overall, the team is fitter than it was a year ago, but if there is one area Renney is intent on shoring up during training camp, it’s the fatigue index. To that end, the players have been doing short sprints rather than long skates after their drills.

The objective is to increase their tolerance level for short explosive bursts.

“You have to maintain that intensity for an 82-game schedule,” Eberle said. “I know I went through a bit of a lull three quarters of the way through (last season). I think most rookies do.

“You just don’t realize how much of a grind it is. It takes a toll on your body, so you have to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, that you’re physically ready to go when the season starts.

“In the Western Hockey League, we’d play in Prince Albert (Saskatchewan) and drive home, eating pizza on the way back. You get to the NHL and you have people telling you what you should eat. You have access to a lot of knowledge.”

Eberle got up to 190-192 pounds but felt too sluggish on the ice, so he dropped back to 185-187 pounds, which he figures is his ideal playing weight.

“I lost a lot of body fat,” said Eberle, who went from 12% body fat to nine. “I dropped that and gained muscle. That was huge for me.”

Peckham averaged about 18 minutes a game during 71 games last season after playing just 15 NHL games in 2009-10 and 15 in 2008-09. He was determined to take another step forward during the off-season.

“It was a little bit more intense,” he said. “Having somebody there to push you is obviously a lot better. It makes you a bit more honest. I wanted to put myself in that situation.”